Dogs and cats rescued from burning homes in Warren have a better chance for survival, thanks to a donation to the city’s fire department.

Invisible Fence of Shelby Township has donated a dozen oxygen mask kits that can be placed over the snouts of pets suffering from smoke inhalation.

In the past, firefighters who carried pets overcome by smoke could hold their own masks in front of the faces of the suffering animals. Because the human-sized masks don’t fit animals, firefighters hoped the pets would breathe in some of the passing oxygen while much of it escaped.

“It was better than nothing, but this is such a better system and it will help us a lot,” Warren Fire Chief Dave Frederick said of the donated masks made specifically for dogs and cats. “It’s formed for an animal’s snout. It works right off our portable (oxygen tanks).”

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Each kit contains one small, medium and large mask – made of plastic and rubber -- to fit dogs and cats less than 20 pounds, between 20 and 50 pounds, and over 50, respectively. A leash also is included with every kit.

In Warren, the city’s Animal Welfare Commission learned that Invisible Fence was providing the kits for free to fire departments in Michigan and subsequently notified Warren fire officials. Invisible Fence in Shelby Township informed Warren that one kit would be given to each of the city’s six fire stations.

Frederick asked for more, saying the city has 12 first-line rigs including fire engines and rescue trucks used by first-responders at any moment.

After a phone call by Invisible Fence franchise owner Kate Lochner to a corporate official, Frederick’s request was granted.

The fire chief said most pets pulled from burning homes over the years died.

“They’re like kids – they hide because they’re scared,” Frederick said. But on just a few occasions, oxygen helped a dog or cat survive.

Amid tight municipal budgets, the donation is very worthwhile to the fire department, he said.

On Thursday, on-duty firefighters working at Fire Station 2 got a chance to practice with the pet-friendly masks. Lochner showed them how to place one of the new oxygen masks on “Princess,” her 8-year-old Labrador retriever/malamute mix.

Princess squirmed slightly as Firefighter Jon Podolak took his turn but she cooperated during his second attempt to place the mask on her. The training exercise was videotaped by the Fire Department and shown at the fire halls later that day.

The masks, which are washable and re-usable, were distributed to the other stations and placed aboard rigs.

Lochner also showed firefighters how to find a pulse on a dog or cat by feeling in the armpit or near the femur of a hind leg.